Matsui Statement on Republican Budget Plan

Statement

Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CA-5) released the following statement in response to the Republican Budget plan for Fiscal Year 2012, released today:

"The federal budget should reflect the priorities and values of our nation, but the Republican plan looks out only for the interests of Big Oil and Corporations who would continue to get enormous subsidies and tax breaks. For example, it would lower the corporate tax rate for corporations -- even if those corporations ship jobs overseas. The plan would also make the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy permanent -- and the Republicans are asking America's seniors to pay for it all.

"In fact, the Republican budget would end Medicare as we know it. It would annihilate Medicaid. And it would put into motion cuts to Social Security almost immediately.

"This may be a "new' plan, but these are not new ideas. The Republicans tried to privatize Social Security in 2005; and the American people said "no.' That foresight saved trillions of dollars that would have been lost as a result of the stock market crash. Now, six years later they want to privatize Medicare; and the American people will are saying "no.' They are saying "no' because they know that cutting benefits for America's seniors does not eliminate the deficit and it does not create jobs. It only hurts America's seniors, and the numbers alone show how shortsighted the Republican plan really is.

"In my district, 94 percent of seniors use Medicare to pay for their doctors and to get the care they need. 17 percent of Sacramento seniors receive Medicaid, which allows them to stay in a nursing home instead of on the street; and 15 percent receive both Medicare and Medicaid.

"Just as importantly, 86 percent of individuals 65 and over in Sacramento are getting the Social Security benefits they have paid into over the course of the working lives. It is their money. Moreover, the median Social Security income for Sacramento seniors is a modest $14,655 -- which means there is no room to start cutting benefits.

"Unfortunately, the Republican budget plan takes all of this for granted, and prioritizes big business over the health and wellbeing of America's seniors. I know that those values are not the values that Sacramento seniors hold, and I will fight to make sure that this budget plan never becomes law."

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